It’s an epic tourist trap in so many ways…but Hoi An’s got a bit of magic to her as well. Maybe I just got lucky with the sunset on my first day in town, always so crucial in evoking feelings about a place, but something here just, clicks.

It’s busy, and many visitors, like all the others I’ve seen on this trip so far, are of that gap year variety, backpacking their way through one of the cheapest, but yet somewhat civilised parts of Asia in an attempt to broaden their perspective before the inevitable return to reality. There are a healthy handful of other FE Asian tourists thrown in for good measure too though, witnessed by the unrelenting sea of selfie sticks that render the streets a battlefield in attempt to keep your eyes from poked out.

The locals are nice but, given the environment, are understandably ruthless in getting your attention to make a sale. It does affect the experience somewhat, but they have families to feed too, who are we to begrudge them that?

The photos in the above gallery are somewhat reflective of where I’m at right now – having been effectively homeless for a month, I’m now going back to London for summer. Some of the shots are out of focus, but capture the light, or are busy and scattered, with no focal point. This is how I feel right now – with no place to call home, I haven’t really had the head space to process how I feel about leaving Hong Kong, even if temporarily, though maybe for longer than that, who knows. Being in Vietnam has been less like an escape, and more like something pulling me back to who I am – happily wandering the world by myself. Maybe that’s all I really need more of.